© ronin691

Looking for a Android G1? There's a good chance you can find it on megashopper.

Whatever kind of electronic device (or peripheral for it) you may be looking for or considering, there's a good chance you can find a review of it on megashopper - a review created by users just like you. And if you like what you see, you can usually purchase the device right there through megashopper.

The megashopper features everything from 5th Generation 30gig iPods to Dell Latitude XT2 Laptops. You get a review of the product done by a user like you followed by useful product information. And best of all, since it's a wiki you can add to the content, review products yourself, and comment n the reviews of other people. That makes you part of building knowledge on the Web.

Check out megashopper now...

Yahoo! GO is Yahoo!'s one stop shop for its mobile services. This application provides an interface to its search engine, photo uploads, e-mail, news sites, etc., for your favorite mobile device. Yahoo! Go version 3.0 for Nokia Series 60-based mobile devices has an added feature - voice interface to its search capability, similar to Yahoo! OneSearch. SymbianFreak reports that this service is currently available only in the U.S., U.K., India, Philippines, Singapore and Canada.

This extends the functionality of this service by simply allowing users to keep their devices inside their pockets or bags and use either a wired headset or a bluetooth-paired headset and still be able to search. The question is, will it also read the results back to you? :)

In what seems to be one of the first screenshots of Firefox Mobile running on Windows Mobile, Mozilla's upcoming competitor to Opera Mobile, Pocket IE, Skyfire and Mobile Safari, seems to be shaping up as a heavyweight contender. With an ACID 3 score of 88/100, Firefox Mobile is one browser to look out for. I am hoping that it gets Prism included (for offline access), along with Geode, for location-based services. What features would you want Firefox Mobile to have before it gets released to the public?

Now I am hoping that Mozilla can get this browser into the T-Mobile G1 as well as the iPhone 3G. :)

[image from Mozilla's blassey blog]

Photo courtesy of iStockphoto, Image# 5893466

This year's Mobile Choice Consumer Awards 2008 gave the Nokia E71 the prestige of being the Phone of the Year and the Best Smartphone of the 2008. Other winners are:

• Phone of the Year: Nokia E71


• Best Camera Phone: Samsung i8510


• Tariff Deal of the Year: 3 Mobile Broadband


• Best Bluetooth Headset: Jawbone Noise Assassin


• Best Network: O2


• Best Smartphone: Nokia E71


• Best Mobile Game: Tetris Pop


• Best Music Phone: Samsung F400


• Best Customer Service: Virgin Mobile


• Most Stylish Phone: LG Secret KF750


• Best High Street Retailer: 02 Stores


• Best Mobile Sat Nav: HTC Touch Cruise


• Best online retailer: Virgin Mobile


• Readers' Dream Phone: Apple iPhone


• Manufacturer of the Year: Samsung Mobile

Following the footstep of Truphone, Fring finally releases its iPhone app on the iTunes App Store - this means that jailbreaking the iPhone is no longer needed.

Unlike Truphone, Fring allows you to link up with various IM services as well as Skype and any SIP-compliant VoIP service. Whilst the iPhone SDK license restricts VoIP apps to work only on WiFi, I have yet to check if Fring works on the 3G network - but I am having doubts that it'd work, otherwise, Apple might just pull the plug on Fring.

This is a welcome addition to the list of iPhone apps that simply makes the iPhone experience bearable despite its shortcomings. :)

In a ComputerWorld article, VMWare, a leading provider of virtualization software, announces a version of its VMWare VirtualCenter management software for Linux and iPhone users. Previously a Windows-only management tool, this definitely brings it to more users who prefer using non-Microsoft products (that's me!).

System administrators who use iPhones will now be able to manage their virtual machines from the comfort of their home. :) This extends the reach of mobile administrators like me. Thanks, VMWare! Now I just hope that it is free. :P

[Image courtesy of Flickr:osde8info]

To road warriors who use Google's Street View to help them navigate, gone are the days when you need to whip up your notebook just to be able to use it. Google provides this same service for any JavaME-enabled mobile phones, including the Blackberry (sorry iPhone, you can't use it!)



This service, a default app on the T-Mobile G1, is a welcome addition to your GPS-enabled phone. Imagine that! Now, if only Street View is available world-wide. he-he-he.

With video-streaming from mobile phones and other data-intensive applications, such as push-technology, 3D gaming, etc., the mobile telecommunications infrastructure needs to rapidly upgrade to provide the bandwidth needed by these apps. Whilst 3G is not as widely available as we thought it was, current mobile users rely on WiFi for more data-intensive mobile applications. Personally, I have 3G turned off primarily because 3G services in the Philippines sucks! (yes, Smart and Globe, are you listening?)

However, folks over in Baltimore, Maryland, are lucky to have their Sprint's XOHM-WiMax network activated. This 4G technology seems to be the solution to the bandwidth-hungry mobile applications. However, it is not without competition from the GSM-based Long Term Evolution (LTE) solution, which is also being field tested.

Current heavy-users of these mobile apps definitely will benefit from these new and fast technologies. However, several questions remain - [1] how affordable is it? [2] how much will transceivers cost? [3] when will it support non-Windows systems? And others.

To me, I'll be jumping on it once it is made available but the major question is - how much?

Not to be outdone, another social-networking via video site, Seesmic, brought to you by a Twitter-friend of mine, Loic Lemeur, beta tests two mobile applications that allow you to interact with the rest of the seesmic community.

IN its blog, Seesmic is now testing a Symbian OS-based application, specifically for the N95, and a Windows Mobile application.

This space is fast becoming saturated with video-streaming applications that puts a demand on the mobile data infrastructure. Mobile carriers must be able to rapidly improve their networks to provide more data-intensive applications to thrive. Otherwise, it will just be narrowed down into a niche market.

I wrote about Qik before and also mentioned FlixWagon. However, there is another player in the market today and that is Kyte. Kyte has been doing browser-based video recording and streaming for quite awhile already. Today, Kyte allows you to record and stream live from Symbian OS Series 60 mobile phones, specifically those from nokia, with its Kyte Mobile Producer, in direct competition with Qik.

The live-streaming from mobile phones is fast become an ideal platform for covering news and events, provided, of course, the underlying mobile broadband infrastructure is capable of handling the traffic. Unfortunately, in the Philippines, the two biggest mobile phone carriers, Smart and Globe, have dismal 3G coverage preventing qik and kyte to function properly.

Do you use live video streaming from your mobile phones via the 3G or higher networks?